Bernard Schoenburg: Poe married a day after Kennedy was shot

State Rep. Raymond Poe was 19 when he and his wife-to-be, Carol, were at the Sangamon County courthouse getting their marriage license as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. “Everybody remembers where they were,” Poe, 69, recalled this week.

State Rep. RAYMOND POE was 19 when he and his wife-to-be, CAROL, were at the Sangamon County courthouse getting their marriage license as President JOHN F. KENNEDY was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

“Everybody remembers where they were,” Poe, 69, recalled this week.

“We got married the next day, and then went down to the Smoky Mountains” in Tennessee, he said. “At that time, people showed so much respect for the president, and literally, you couldn’t hardly find a place even to stop and eat” because so many businesses were closed. Open gas stations were rare, too.

“I’m not sure today that would happen,” the Springfield Republican said. “There was just a lot of respect and a lot of mourning going on.”

He said he and Carol did have TV at their motel and watched the coverage in the aftermath of Kennedy’s death.

“I think it hurt every American,” Poe said. “We … hope to never live long enough to see it happen again.”

Despite starting their new life together in a small ceremony at the old Sherman United Methodist Church in the midst of a national tragedy, the Poes have a good history of their own to project. They have three children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They’re having a free and public dessert reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 24 at Poe’s on the Hill, 295 E. Andrew Road.

Happy 50th anniversary to them.

More memories of Kennedy — including his two visits to Springfield as a candidate and one as a president, historical photos and readers’ remembrances of where they were when they learned of his death — will be featured in The State Journal-Register on Sunday.

On the mend

Menard County State’s Attorney KEN BAUMGARTEN is on the mend after an accident at his rural Petersburg home, but he’s glad he’s the only one who got hurt.

His daughter’s horse, Taffy, was ill and on her side in the pasture Friday. A veterinarian came to see her, and there was a group effort to get Taffy to her feet.

Baumgarten, 18-year-old daughter NICOLE and wife SUSAN were all working with the vet.

“She got up for like a second or two, and then she started falling,” Nicole said. “She was falling toward me, and then dad pushed me out of the way. … And then she landed on him.”

The result? Baumgarten got a broken left ankle that required surgery and a broken bone in his right foot.

“Things happen, but the good thing is there’s going to be a full recovery,” Baumgarten said. “Could have been worse.”

The horse was put down.

Baumgarten is one of three Republican candidates for Menard County resident circuit judge. Others are MIKE ATTERBERRY and GABE GROSBOLL.

Page 2 of 3 - Jobe helps Turner

City elections have often drawn together allies across party lines. One such a situation is that Ward 6 Ald. CORY JOBE is among hosts of a Nov. 21 fundraiser for Ward 3 Ald. DORIS TURNER at Operating Engineers Local 965.

Turner chairs the Sangamon County Democratic Party. Jobe is a Republican who is also exploring the possibility of running for mayor in 2015. City offices are officially nonpartisan.

I told Jobe that somebody pointed out to me his role in the Turner event.

“If you can’t support your friends, who can you support?” Jobe asked. “I enjoy this city. I love people that throw stones at me when they’ve done it in this town for years. Republicans have supported Democrats for years, and Democrats have supported Republicans. … For some reason, the magnifying glass is extremely strong on what I do.”

Could the reason be that he announced his exploratory committee for mayor in September?

Anyway, Jobe said he’s worked closely with Turner, she’s attended his events, and he’s honored to help. He said her work raising money for her party didn’t leave time to raise money for herself.

ERIKA HAROLD, the Urbana attorney running against U.S. Rep. RODNEY DAVIS, R-Taylorville, in the March 18 GOP primary, is asking for a series of debates — at least one in each of the 14 counties of the 13th Congressional District.

“Let us commit to engaging voters of the 13th District and providing them with a series of informative and spirited debates,” she said in a recent letter to the Davis campaign.

Davis spokesman ANDREW FLACH said Davis “has appeared on stage with his opponent to discuss the issues many times already, and we look forward to future debates, but right now we are focused on traveling throughout the district to talk about the issues most important to our constituents and taking those stories back to Washington.”

PHIL BLOOMER, spokesman for Harold, said the times Davis and Harold shared a stage to talk issues was only when 14 Republican county chairmen were deciding who should go on the November 2012 ballot, after U.S. Rep. TIM JOHNSON, R-Urbana, dropped out of the race. Bloomer said there is a “huge difference” between debating in front of voters in a primary and, essentially, 14 people who will make the decision.

Bloomer also said several entities — mostly media outlets — have expressed interest in hosting debates.

Esposito gets GOP post

The Illinois Republican Party named ANTHONY ESPOSITO, 28, a Mount Prospect native, as its new Illinois victory director.

The Republican National Committee pays the salary for that post, in which Esposito will work with the state party on voter identification, persuasion and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Page 3 of 3 - “Tony’s expertise will be invaluable as we work toward victories in 2014 and beyond,” state Illinois GOP Chairman JACK DORGAN said in a statement last week.

“With our historic ground game investments, we’re on a path to victory,” said REINCE PRIEBUS, chairman of the RNC.

Esposito, a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., recently worked for U.S. Rep. JOHN SHIMKUS, R-Collinsville, and earlier was political director for the state GOP and deputy director of its victory program in 2012.

JAYME ODOM, a native of Sigel in Shelby County and a 2002 graduate of the University of Illinois Springfield, has been executive director since Dorgan became party chairman, and she remains in that post overseeing all facets of the state organization, including fundraising and press relations.

Oops

PAUL VALLAS and FRANK McNEIL worked together on Senate staff in Springfield in the 1980s. I had the wrong decade in a recent column.